Work with a partner or small group. Choose one of these topics. List as many ideas you can in five minutes.

a. tuenage fashions b. things to do at the beach c. driving a motorcycle

Work alone. Choose a topic from exercise 2 on page 5, and list as many ideas as you can in five minutes.

Free writing

When you free write, you write whatever comes into your head about your topic, without stopping. Most freewiiting exorcises are short—just five or ten minutes.

Free writing helps yon practice fluency (writing quickly and easily). When you free write, you do not need to worry about accuracy (having correct grammar and spelling), Don't check your dictionary when you free write. Don't stop if you make a mistake. Just keep writing!

Here is an example of a student's freewriting:

There tire hm so many subjects to study at university, it is difficult to choose one for my major. I've always madegood grades in math, but / dont (ike it very much. / don't (ikephysicalphysics or any science very much. Writing—ive always liked writing. Would journalism he a good course to take? Neu/spapers have pictures, ioo, so maybe photography would begood, fm maybe definitely looking forward to meeting new friends at university. And what about reading? Reading is a part of any course, but literature includes a lot of reading and it probably includes a lot of writing, too.

Notice how the writer's ideas jump around. When she makes a mistake, siio Just crosses it out and continues writing. One thought [writing] leads to another (journalism), and then to another {photography). There are some details that are not exactly about her topic (looking forward to meeting new friends)> but that's OK in freewriting. You want to got as many ideas on paper as you can. You can take out unnecessary words and sentences later.

Choose one of the narrowed topics you thought of for exercise 1 on page 5. Practice freewriting for five minutes. Remember, do not stop, erase, or go hack. Just write as much as you can.

D Mapping

To make a map, use a whole sheet of paper, end write your topic in the middle, with a circJe around it. Then put the next idea in a circle above or below your topic, and connect the circles with lines. The lines show that the two ideas are relatud.

The example below shows a map of "What should I study in college?" The writer connected favorite subjects to the main idea. Art and English are connected to favorite subjects to show that they arc related.

5 Choose another narrowed topic you thought of for exercise 1 on page 5. Make a map in five minutes. Share your map with a partner. Explain how the circles are related to each other.

Z) What's the best way to brainstorm?

There is no best method of brainstorming. Some writers like to use lists because they don't have to write complete sentences. Some writers like freewiiting because they can write quickly and ideas come easily. Some writers prefer mapping because they can easily see the relationship between ideas. Experiment with all three methods, and then chooso the one that works best for you.

Editing

D How to edit

After you have gathered plenty of ideas, you will need to go back and edit them. This is the time to choose which ideas are the most interesting, and which are the most relevant to (important or necessary for) your topic. Of course, you can still add new ideas if you think of something e]se while you are re-reading your list. For example, the student writing "What should I study in college?" edited her list like this:

To edit freewriting, cross out sentences or parts of sentences that aren't related. You can add more ideas in the margin or add more sentences at the bottom. To edit a map, cross out circles that don't belong, and add new ones if you get more ideas. You might also change the lines you have drawn.

6 Look at the list you made in exercise 3 on page 6, the freewriting you did in exercise 4 on page 7, or the map you made in exercise 5 on page 8. Edit your brainstorming. Show your work to a partner. Explain how you edited your brainstorming.

Review

7 Complete the crossword puzzle.

Each paragraph has only one topic. If the topic is too n_, you will not be able to write enough about it. On the other hand, if the topic is too 2- b_, you will have too many ideas fox just one paragraph.

After you choose a topic, you will need to 3- b_some ideas to write about in your paragraph. One way to do this is to make a 1_. Another way of brainstorming is

5i m_. After you have written down many ideas, you can go back and decide which ones are the most interesting and the most6- r to your topic.

7- F_is a useful way to help you write more easily and naturally. In this kind of writing, you are working on f_, and not 9- a_.

8 Look again at the note about brainstorming at the bottom of page 8. Brainstorm a list of pros [good things) and cons (bad things) about each of the three methods of brainstorming.

The Structure of a Paragraph

■ the definition of a paragraph.

■ how to identify and write topic sentences.

Z) What is a paragraph?

As you learned in Unit 1, a paragraph is a group of sentences about a single topic. Together, the sentences of the paragraph explain the writer's main idea (most important idea) about the topic, in academic writing, a paragraph is often between five and ten sentences long, but it can be longer or shorter, depending on the topic. The first sentence of a paragraph is usually indented (moved in) a few spaces.

Understanding a paragraph

! Read this paragraph. It is the beginning of an article about Indonesia in a student newspaper. Then answer the questions.

If you dream of traveling j to <1 country with beautiful issflfe ""

tropical islands, wonderful food, beautiful places to go I sightseeing, and very friendly j wm^ ■ people» you should visit I

Indonesia. If you look at the V r^-r^f map, the first thing you notice is that Indonesia is made up of islands—more than 17,000 of them. Traveling between islands by boat is great fun. just like the many islands, there are also many different groups of people living in Indonesia. In fact, chere are around 300 different ethnic groups! Most Indonesians are Malay, bur others arc Javanese, Baiinese, Chinese, or Indian. All these groups together make Indonesian culture very interesting. Finally, Indonesia has many cities and historical sights to see. Jakarta, the capital city, is fast becoming a modern center of commerce, yet the ancient temples on the island of Bali show that the country's old traditions are still alive. All the people, places, and tilings to see definitely make Indonesia a great place for a vacation.

Indonesia—Something Interesting at Every Turn

By Ken Jones a. What is the topic of the paragraph?

b. What is the main idea about the topic?

c. What ideas help explain the main i dea?

Paragraph organization

O What makes a paragraph?

A paragraph has three basic parts:

1 The topic sentence. This is the main idea of the paragraph. It is usually the first sentence of the paragraph, and it is the most general sentence of the paragraph.

2. The supporting sentences. These arc sentences that talk about or explain the topic sentence. They are more detailed ideas that follow the topic sentence.

3. The concluding sentence, This may be found as the last sentence of a paragraph. It can finish a paragraph by repeating the main idea or just giving a final comment about the topic.

Read the paragraph about Indonesia in exercise 1 on page 11 again. Circle the topic sentence, put one line under the supporting sentences, and put two lines under the concluding sentence.

Put a check (/) next to the group of sentences that makes a good paragraph. Why are the other groups of sentences not good paragraphs?

My hzst f iend has many different hobbies, such as skiing, cooking, andplaying the. piano, and she is very good at aii of these activities. For example, she has played the piano for ten years and has u/on in three piano competitions She also likes ¿0 spend time traveling, and she has been to many different countries in the world. She yreu> up speaking Spanish and English, bat now she can also spenk French and Italian. / like my best friend very much.

Tap Directly Into Your Creative Mind... And Easily Access YOUR Million-Dollar Ideas Ideas are the lifeblood of success... and the best ideas originate with brainstorming. Brainstorming can help you successfully fix any problem, build any business, generate any plan, or develop any story. But the problem is that most people have no clue how to effectively brainstorm - either by themselves or with groups. You can waste a lot of time coming up with old, boring ideas that won't work... and the whole time you actually believe that you are brainstorming.